Brown University Reviews

Brown University is an amazing place to go for undergrad. There's simply nowhere else that I'd rather spend four years learning and growing as a person. The open curriculum allows for lots of exploration and risk-taking in the classroom, and this culture bleeds into student life as well. The environment here is very relaxed and collaborative, and the students here are kind, accepting, and fun. And coming from a SoCal kid, the weather isn't even that bad! I've only been at Brown for one year, but I'm so glad I made the choice to come here when I was deciding between colleges last April.

Having lived in Morriss-Champlin for the past year and now moving to Perkins this year, I have gotten almost the worst end of the stick in my first two years of housing on Brown's campus. Both dorms are easily viewed by the student body to be the worst freshman and sophomore housing selections; nevertheless, living in those dorms has neither impeded nor discouraged me to engage in the social atmosphere of the campus or successfully get to classes. There are much, much better accommodations on campus for first and second years, both closer to campus and included more advanced amenities; I also will add that Perkins is getting a renovation this summer and will undoubtedly have better amenities next year!

Professors, even in large lecture classes, are always approachable and friendly. They are open to extensions when asked and even small talk. However, with the amount of time you have with each professor (this also depends on the size of the class) it's unlikely for you to become very friendly with any teachers throughout college unless you take initiative.
Classes can range from 7 people to 200. There are a variety of options, usually intro classes are big while seminars, language classes, and specific topic classes are smaller. With large classes there is an immense amount of TAs that are always available to help. They also run review/discussion sections to allow students to ask specific questions and get advice from experts who already aced the class.
Most classes, in the humanities, make you do a lot of reading, have a smaller discussion section, and then 2-4 big assignments like midterms, finals, essays, take home exams, etc.
The variety of courses speaks for itself. There are too many choices and they are all interesting!